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HOUSTON 



"WHERE SEVENTEEN RAILROADS MEET THE SEA" 




COPYRIGHTED 
1913 

H. H, TAMMEN 

COMPANY 
DENVER 



Houston Ship Channel 



A DESCRIPTIVE VIEW BOOK IN COLORS 




HOUSTON 




By JEROME H. FARBAR 




HE City of Houston was one of the first 
products of the new Republic of Texas. 
Founded by the Allen family and General 
Sam Houston after the defeat of the Mex- 
icans at San Jacinto, April 21. 1836, and 
named in honor of the illustrious Texan 
who won Texas' independence, the new town was des- 
tined to be the chief city in the new Republic and today 
it maintains the same position as the chief city of the 
State of Texas, with a population of 125,000 or more 
I'ersons. 

When Mexico was forced to relinquish claims to 
Texas in 1S36 the victorious Texans threw off the man- 
tle of warfare to face a much more stupendous task — 
that of the governing of a great undeveloped empire, 
twice the size of Japan and 825 miles in length from 
north to south and 740 miles wide from east to west. 
Establishment of the chief city or capital was the 
first task, and it was decided to place it at a point easy 
ol access by water, which was then the chief method of 
transportation, with the exception of overland, yet far 
enough inland from the coast to be safe from tropical 
and gulf storms. 

That point was determined at the headwaters of 
Buffalo Bayou, fifty miles inland. It was proposed to 
found the town on land owned by the Harris family, 
but a disagreement with the Allen family on land mat- 
ters forced the Aliens to desert the Harrisburg town 



project and come three miles farther up the bayou, 
where they founded Houston. Today the town of Har- 
risburg is but little larger, if any larger, than when 
founded, and now is a suburb of the City of Houston. 

So Houston was founded. The wisdom of its fore- 
fathers in laying out the city on a navigable stream 
has proved the greatest factor in the upbuilding of 
Houston. Long since the old name of Buffalo Bayou 
has given away to the more distinctive name of "Hous- 
ton Ship Channel," and the old bayou, still an arm of 
the sea, has been deepened to a depth of 25 feet and 
widened to 200 feet at the bottom, and the ships of 
ocean commerce are entering the land-locked port of 
Houston over its placid waters. 

The Ship Channel is Houston's greatest commercial 
asset. It has given Houston the water rate, while traf- 
fic over its waters amounts to over ,155,000,000 annually. 
Houston is a port of entry and a customs house is main- 
tained. The improvement of the channel to a depth of 
twenty-five feet has .iust been made under an appro- 
priation of $2,500,000, the work being directed by 
ITnited States engineers. The City of Houston, by 
agreement with the government, forever guarantees to 
maintain free wharf facilities, so no commerce over 
the wharves at Houston will be subject to tax. 

Houston is the railroad center of the Southwest, 
seventeen railroads entering the city and making their 
terminus. Over one hundred passenger trains operate 



JAN 20 19(4 
©CI.A.'{60863 



in and out of Houston daily. Houston is the largest 
railroad center and deep-water port combined in the 
South. Houston is general headquarters for the Sunset- 
Central Lines (Southern Pacific lines in Louisiana and 
Texas), the International & Great Northern Railway, 
the Texas Frisco Lines, and the Trinity & Brazos Valley 
Railroad. 

The only general oflRce building of Southern Pacific 
Lines is at Houston — the nine-story, half-million dollar 
general offices of the Sunset-Central Lines. A modern 
half-million dollar hospital is maintained in Houston by 
the Southern Pacific. 

The shojis of the Sunset-Central Lines and of the 
Houston & Texas Central Railroad are in Houston. 
Nearly 2,500 men are employed in the great shops of 
the Texas & New Orleans Railroad, and over 500 men 
in the shops of the Houston & Texas Central. 

Houston is the financial center of the Southwest, 
with more banking capital, greater clearings and 
greater deposits than any city in Texas. Deposits sub- 
ject to check average $45,000,000, while bank clearings 
are second only to New Orleans of any southern city. 
Several costly and modern buildings house Houston's 
financial institutions. 

Houston is the largest inland port cotton market in 
the world, handling nearly 3,000,000 bales annually, or 
the bulk of *he crop of Texas and Oklahoma. Houston 
has greater concentration facilities than any city in 
Texas and a compressing qapacity of 3.000,000 bales 
per year. The greatest item of commerce over the 
Ship Channel is cotton, and the channel alone saves 
over $6,000,000 annually to the cotton producers of 
Texas, as it reduces, for a haul of fifty miles, the rail- 
road rate of 21 cents per hundred pounds to 6 cents. 

Houston is the oil center of Texas, twenty-three oil 
corporations, with a combined capital of $70,000,000, 
being domiciled in Houston. One corporation — The 
Texas Company— is capitalized at $50,000,000. 



Houston is the lumber center of the Southwest, 
forty-nine lumber corporations, with a combined capital 
of $40,000,000, being domiciled in Houston. Annual 
business amounts to $37,000,000. The cut is confined 
almost entirely to long-leaf yellow pine, great forests 
of which are located within a few miles of Houston. 

Houston is the industrial and manufacturing center 
of Texas, with 347 manufacturing institutions, turning 
out 2S2 different articles and employing 10,000 factory 
workers. The annual industrial payroll of Houston is 
in excess of $10,000,000, 

Houston is the sugar and rice center of Texas, being 
in the center of the producing region for both com- 
modities. 

Houston has forty tall buildings of six stories and 
over, ranging up to eighteen stories, which is more sky- 
scrapers of six stories and over than possessed by ariy 
other city of equal population in the world. 

Houston has greater modern hotel facilities than 
any city in the South, having two hundred more flrst- 
class hotel rooms than New Orleans, the nearest com- 
petitor. The Rice Hotel, of eighteen stories, containing 
six hundred guest rooms and costing $3,500,000, is the 
largest and costliest hotel in the South. 

The largest and most modern convention hall in the 
South is in Houston — the great Municipal Auditorium, 
recently completed at a cost of $400 000. It seats 7,000 
persons and 10,000 can be accommodated with seeing 
and hearing distance of the stage. It was built by the 
city and iiaid for out of the general revenues of the city. 

Municipal government in Houston is by commission 
form. Taxable valuations are $100,000,000, the greatest 
of any city in Texas, and the taxable valuation of Har- 
ris County, of which Houston is the county seat, is 
$128,500,000, the greatest of any county in Texas, 

Houston is an all the year 'round city. A pleasant 
winter resort, warmed by gulf trade winds, and cool in 
summer, fanned by gulf winds. It is a hospitable city 
where true southern hospitality is exemplified. 



^ I Jl 




Famous Causeway. Built of Reinforced Concrete. 
and One-Half Miles Long. Cost $2,000,000. 



Is Two 




Main Street North From Walker Avenue. All the Buildings in This 
View Were Constructed Within the Last Three Years. 




View of the City Hall and Public Market. Municipal Government in 

Houston is Commission Form, With a Mayor and Four 

Commissioners at Its Head. 




Main Street North From Bell Avenue. Houston Is Noted for Its Great 
Trees and Is Known as the "Magnolia City." 




Harris County Court House at Houston. Harris County, With Taxable 
Valuations of $128,500,000, Is the Richest County in Texas. 



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Preston Street From Main, Showing a Group of Typical 
IVIodern Office Buildings. 




Houston Is Famous for Her Fine Park System. "Old Mill" Is a Cozy 
Nook in the Semi-Tropical Sam Houston (City Park). 




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Rossonion Apartments Is One of the Many Beautiful Apartment 
Buildings in Houston. 




The New Union Station Is a Part of the $5,000,000 Holdings of the 

Houston Belt & Terminal Company. Finest Passenger 

Station in the South. 



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View of the First National Bank Building. Houston Has More Banks, 

Greater Capital, Greater Clearings and Deposits Than 

Any City in Texas. 




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Typical Cotton Barge on the Houston Ship Channel. This Waterway 
Cuts the Railroad Rate From 21 to 6 Cents a Hundred Pounds 
and Annually Saves Texas Planters $6,000,000. 




The City Auditorium Is the Largest IVIodern Convention Hall in the 
South. Seats 7,000 Persons and Cost $400,000. 




The Rice Hotel Is 18 Stories High, 600 Rooms, Cost $3,500,000. 

Occupies the Same Site as the First Capitol Building 

of the Republic of Texas. 




The Bristol Hotel and Annex Is One of the Well-Known Hostelries 

of the City. 



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Union National Bank Building. Houston's Financial Institutions Are 
Housed in the Finest Banking Houses in the South. 




The Causeway Connects Galveston and the Mainland and Is a Unit 
the Houston-Galveston Boulevard. 




The Grand Central Station Is the Entry of the Southern Pacific Lines 

to Houston. Over One Hundred Passenger Trains Operate 

in and Out Daily. 




The Postoffice and Federal Building Is a F.ne Example of a Modern 
Government Building, of Which the City Is Justly Proud. 




The Brazos Hotel. Looking Through the Semi-Tropical Park of the 
Grand Central Station. 




The Carter Building Is the Tallest Exclusive Office Building in Texas. 
The View Shows the Carter Building and the Bender Hotel. 




Cotton Pickers in the Field. Houston Is the Largest Inland Port 

Cotton Market in the World, Handling Nearly 3,000,000 

Bales Annually. 




The Banking House of the Texas Commercial National Bank Is One of 
the Finest Exclusive Banking Houses in the South. 




Administration Building, Rice Institute. Endowment, $10,000,000; Sev- 
enth Richest College in the United States. Thirty-three 
Buildings to Be Incorporated in the Academic Plan. 



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The New Bender Hotel Is One of the Finest Buildings in Houston. 




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